MacPhun Filters for Photos

Does this simplistic app offer enough control to impress photographers?

MacPhun’s Filters for Photos is an extremely simplistic piece of software that any level of photographer or image editor will be able to use without any problem.

It’s a free piece of software that can be downloaded for Mac only, and you can use it as a standalone app, or you can use it as an extension for the built-in Photos app on your Mac. Thirty different free filters are available with Filters for Photos, so you shouldn’t be short of photo-enhancing options. The download and set up process of the app was incredibly quick and easy to complete. In fact, we were able to begin editing our imagery within minutes. Simply open the image you’d like to edit by either dragging the image onto the interface or scrolling through menus. Once your image has been loaded into the program, you can choose from a number of filters that you can adjust to suit your needs.

Unfortunately, you can only open one image at a time and you have to finish with each image before you start looking at a new one. This is obviously not ideal for batch editing and it will be very time-consuming if you want to add a specific filter to a set of images so that they look consistent. Additionally – and equally annoying – it doesn’t seem as though you can begin to edit, save the image and then come back to finish it later. The filters are sorted in alphabetical order, which is really convenient, especially for when you have used the app a few times and know exactly what filter you are looking for. All you have to do is click on the filter you want and it will be immediately applied to your image.

This immediacy is one of the best aspects of this app. Once the filter has been selected, you’ll be presented with some sliders to alter the look of the image. The sliders available will differ depending on the filter you have selected, however the options usually include a control for intensity. There’s also a Mask button you can use to select a specific part of the image for the filter to be applied to. The masking brush is actually pretty good; you can adjust the size, softness and opacity, but is perhaps not as accurate as tools in the likes of Photoshop. There’s an erase option too, that lets you remove any parts of the brush that you don’t want.

If you want to be creative you can mix filters together if you like. Simply choose the first filter, make any adjustments, and click Apply. Then you can choose another filter to blend with the previous one, and so on as many times as you like. Conveniently, you’ll find a Compare button that will show you the before and after versions of your image, which is incredibly convenient and will ensure that your edit never skews too far.

All in all this is a pretty basic app. Considering it is free we’d say it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are after a super-quick edit. However, if you want more control and more options, you are probably best off sticking with Photoshop.

The Verdict

7/10 – A simplistic program, Filters for Photos is still capable of providing some lovely effects for images, and is a good companion to Photoshop.